2 men sent to prison for role in illegal gun sales

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Two Rhode Island men have received prison terms for their role in a scheme to sell guns to people who were prohibited from legally possessing firearms, authorities said Tuesday.

Theodore Braxton, 31, was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison, with 12 to serve and the remainder suspended with probation, after pleading no contest to charges including conspiracy to sell concealable weapons illegally, according to the office of Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Ralph Gbaie, 31, was sentenced to nine years in prison, with four to serve and the remainder suspended with probation, after pleading no contest to similar charges, authorities said.

The two men participated in a scheme along with at least two accomplices to purchase firearms from a Warwick gun dealer, and sell them to people not allowed to possess them, prosecutors said.

“Straw purchases like these have only one purpose – to avoid the federal and state background checks designed to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals precluded by law from buying them themselves,” Neronha said in a statement.

Cases against the other two people are pending.